Glorious Beer

AKA Beer, Beer, Glorious Beer
First Published 1895
Writer/composer Steve Leggett / Will Godwin Roud RN32457

Music Hall Performers Harry Anderson
Folk performances Collected from the singing of:
Keeping Family; England : London; 1930s-50s
Modern performances
Endless Music Hall Revival and pub sing along recordings..		 

Now I won't sing of sherbet and water
For sherbet and beer will not rhyme
The workingman can't afford champagne
It's a bit more than two D's a time
So I'll sing you a song of a gargle
A gargle that I love so dear
I allude to that grand institution
That beautiful tonic called beer, beer, beer.

Beer, Beer, glorious beer
Fill yourselves right up to here
Drink a good deal of it; make a good meal of it
Stick to your old fashioned beer
Don't be afraid of it, drink till you're made of it
Now all together, a cheer
Up with the sale of it, down with a pail of it
Glorious, glorious beer.

It's the daddy of all lubricators
The best thing there is for the neck
Can be used as a gargle or lotion
By persons of every sect
Now we know who the goddess of wine was
But was there a goddess of beer?
If so, let us drink to her health, boys
And wish that we'd just got her here, here, here.

So up, up with the brandies and sodas
But down, down and down with the beer
It's good for you when you are hungry
You can eat it without any fear
So mop up the beer while you're able
Of four-half lets all have our fill
And I know you'll all join me in wishing
Good luck to my dear Uncle Bill, Bill, Bill.

A hit song throughout the English-speaking world in the 1890s, remembered by Charles Keeping’s family in the mid 20th century, but otherwise not formally collected from traditional singers. The popularity of the song may explain why it was not collected – its just a song “everyone” knows. The chorus persisted as a popular drinking song throughout the 2oth century, sung by students and servicemen, in pubs and at sports fixtures.

It was originally performed by Harry Anderson (1857-1918) one of a number of comics popular in the 1890s who sang in praise of booze. Glorious beer was his most successful song, and its popularity was and is such that it has been described as an unofficial English national anthem… H Chance Newton described him as a favourite chirruper, rough but always rollicking, who carried the ballad called Beer Glorious Beer throughout the country like some conquering hero.

An American recording from 1899:

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